Cà Mau province

Cà Mau (listen^ⓘ) is a province of Vietnam in the Mekong Delta, and is the southernmost of the 34 provinces of Vietnam.^[7]

The name "Cà Mau" (previously spelled Cà-mau) come from Khmer name of "Tưk Kha-mau" (Khmer: តឹកខ្មៅ) when they discovered the area, which literally means "dark water".^[8]

Ca Mau is on a delta region, with many rivers and canals. The average height is 0.5 meters to 1.5 meters above sea level. The direction of the terrain is gradually inclined from North to South, from Northeast to Southwest.^[9] The area of Cà Mau is in the lowlands with flooding especially in the southern edge.^[10] It has five main soil groups: acid sulfate soil (đất phèn), peat soil (đất than bùn), alluvial soil (đất bãi bồi), saline soil (đất mặn), and canal soil (đất kênh rạch).^[11]

The local low-lying areas in the central low-lying area of the Ca Mau Peninsula have a topographic relationship with the ancient riverbed. The lowlands of U Minh and Tran Van Thoi are inland "hanging depressions" limited by the natural dikes of the system of Ong Doc, Cai Tau, Tram rivers and high ledges along the West Sea. This hanging low-lying area stagnates water all year round and becomes a swamp. Most of the land in Ca Mau is a young land formed by sedimentation, accumulated over the years, very fertile and suitable for aquaculture, rice cultivation, mangrove planting, brackish flooding, etc.^[9]

Cà Mau has ecosystem of forests in coastline (which streches up to 310 kilometers) and inland where it covered 35.000 hectares of land. 77% of mangrove forests in Mekong region is located in Cà Mau.^[11]

Cà Mau is featured for its near-equatorial Tropical monsoon climate (Khí hậu nhiệt đới gió mùa cận xích đạo).^[12] It has 165 days in a year containing rain with 2.360 mm annually.^[12] The average annual humidity is 85.6% and the average annual temperature is 26.5°C. The highest average temperature of the year occurs in April, around 27.6°C. The lowest average temperature is in January, which is about 25°C. The average annual temperature range is 2.7°C.^[11]

In 2025, Cà Mau has a population of 2.606.672, ranked 20 out of 34 provinces and municipalities, accounting for 2,3% total population of Vietnam with a density of 328 per square kilometers.^[4]

There are 749.896 people who followed a religion in the province, accounting for 28,77% of the province's population.^[4] About 76,79% of the religious followers are Buddhists (or 22.09% of the provincial population). Second to which are the Vietnamese Pure Land Buddhist Laity Association followers which takes up 8,24% of the religious followers (or 2,37% of the provincial population). Third is the Catholics which represents 7,2% of the religious followers (or 2,07% of the provincial population). Fourth is the Cao Đài faith followers which is about 5,9% of the religious followers (or 1,7% of the provincial population). The rest of the religions account for a smaller proportion.^[4]

There are 2.464.074 Kinh people living in Cà Mau, accounting up to 94,53% of the total population. The remaining 27 ethnicities took up 5,47% of the total figure or about 142.598 people (32.152 households) which 115.180 (25.590 households) is Khmer, 24.625 is Hoa (6.200 households) and the others are Mường, Thái, Tày, Nùng, Giao, Jarai, Ê đê, Chăm, Chu ru, Si la and foreign settlers.^[13]

During the feudal era, the land of Cà Mau was mostly wild and uninhabited.^[14] According to Gia Định Thành Thông Chí by Trịnh Hoài Đức, under the reign of Emperor Gia Long, settlers had only begun to sparsely cultivate areas along rivers such as Ông Đốc, Gành Hào, and Bảy Háp.^[15] By the time of Emperor Tự Đức, the region was still primarily covered with mangrove forests, with fewer inhabitants due to the scarcity of fresh water and the acidic nature of the soil. In the 17th century, General Mạc Cửu, along with a group of Chinese immigrants, settled in Hà Tiên and later submitted the territory to the Nguyễn Lords.^[15] His son, Mạc Thiên Tứ, established the Long Xuyên administrative unit.^[16] In 1808 (the 7th year of Gia Long's reign), this unit was renamed Long Xuyên District, under Hà Tiên Prefecture.^[17] By 1825 (the 6th year of Minh Mạng’s reign), the imperial court appointed a district governor to administer the area.^[15]

Along with the development of history, Southern Vietnam was divided into six provinces (Lục tỉnh Nam Kỳ): Gia Định, Biên Hòa, Định Tường, Vĩnh Long, An Giang, Hà Tiên.^[18]

During the French colonial period, on June 15, 1867, the French established the Cà Mau administrative division (hạt) based on the former Long Xuyên District.^[19] On August 1, 1877, this division was dissolved and merged into the Rạch Giá division.^[19] On February 18, 1882, the French created Bạc Liêu Province by combining the Cà Mau area (previously part of Rạch Giá) with the Bạc Liêu area (formerly part of Sóc Trăng).^[20] In 1903, the Cà Mau administrative agency was established, consisting of three cantons: Quảng Long, Quảng Xuyên, and Long Thủy.^[20]

On May 16, 1911, Cà Mau was elevated to the status of a district under Bạc Liêu Province.^[15] By October 5, 1917, the district included two cantons: Quảng Xuyên and Quảng Long, along with villages from the Long Thủy canton. On April 6, 1923, part of Long Thủy canton was separated to establish a new canton called Long Thới, which took effect on January 1, 1924. On September 24, 1938, Quảng Xuyên canton was split off to form a new district.^[20] On September 14, 1942, the Tân An administrative base was established. On April 5, 1944, Thới Bình District was created, and subsequently on October 6, 1944, it was renamed North Cà Mau District, while Quảng Xuyên District was renamed South Cà Mau District. Later, these two districts were merged back into a single Cà Mau District under Bạc Liêu Province.^[20]

Under the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), on March 9, 1956, the government established Cà Mau Province based on Cà Mau District and four communes from Giá Rai District.^[20][21] On October 22, 1956, according to Decree No. 143/VN, Cà Mau Province was renamed An Xuyên Province, with its capital at Quản Long. At the same time, An Xuyên Commune was renamed Tân Xuyên, which became the location of the provincial capital, Quản Long. At that point, An Xuyên Province consisted of six districts: Quản Long, Thới Bình, Sông Ông Đốc, Cái Nước, Đầm Dơi, and Năm Căn.^[21] The National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, and later the Provisional Revolutionary Government, continued to use the name Cà Mau.^[21]

After April 30, 1975, Cà Mau Province was maintained with six districts: Thới Bình, Trần Văn Thời, Cái Nước, Ngọc Hiển, Châu Thành, Duyên Hải, and Cà Mau town.^[21] On September 20, 1975, the Politburo issued Resolution 245-NQ/TW regarding the merger of provinces. According to this resolution, Cà Mau, Bạc Liêu, and two districts—Vĩnh Thuận and An Biên (excluding two communes)—from Rạch Giá were to be merged.^[15] On December 20, 1975, Resolution 19/NQ revised the merger plan, and on January 1, 1976, Cà Mau Province and Bạc Liêu Province were officially merged under the initial name of Cà Mau - Bạc Liêu Province.^[22]

On March 10, 1976, the province of Cà Mau - Bạc Liêu was renamed Minh Hải Province.^[23][24], initially taking the provincial capital in Ca Mau^[25]. Historian Hữu Thành said that once Đỗ Mười visited Minh Hải right in the high tide season. The headquarters of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee were all flooded^[25]. Đỗ Mười said that Cà Mau is a low-lying area compared to sea level, if the provincial capital is made here, there will be inconveniences. From that opinion, the provincial capital of Minh Hải was moved to Bạc Liêu town, renamed Minh Hải town.^[25] In 1984, the provincial capital was moved to Cà Mau town, and the name Minh Hải town was reverted to Bạc Liêu town.^[20]

On November 6, 1996, the National Assembly passed a resolution to divide Minh Hải Province into two separate provinces: Cà Mau and Bạc Liêu, effective from January 1, 1997.^[24][26] On April 14, 1999, Cà Mau town was upgraded to Cà Mau City.^[27] On November 17, 2003, Năm Căn District was re-established from Ngọc Hiển District, and Phú Tân District was re-established from Cái Nước District. Since then, Cà Mau Province has consisted of one city and eight districts. On August 6, 2010, Cà Mau City was officially recognized as a grade-II urban center under the province.^[28]

In November 1997, the Cà Mau Peninsula was struck by Typhoon Linda (Openg). Thousands of people were killed, and an estimated 200,000 homes were destroyed, along with most of the Cà Mau fishing fleet.^[29]

Cà Mau Gas-Power-Fertilizer Complex (Vietnamese: Dự án Khí – Điện – Đạm Cà Mau) is one of the three economic projects carried out in the Vietnam 2000-2005 period^[30] and along with the Cần Thơ Bridge it is one of the projects in the Mekong Delta.^[31]

On June 12, 2025, the National Assembly passed Resolution No. 202/2025/QH15,^[32] which took effect the same day, merging Bạc Liêu Province into Cà Mau Province and abolishing all district-level (huyện) of Cà Mau Province.

Before the abolition all district-level (huyện) in Vietnam which took place on June 12 2025, Cà Mau was subdivided into nine district-level sub-divisions:^[33]

8 districts:

1 provincial city:

• Cà Mau (capital)

They are further subdivided into nine commune-level towns (or townlets), 82 communes, and 10 wards.

Cà Mau is subdivided into nine ward-level subdivisions and fifty-five communes:^[34]

• Official website